The Undisputed vs. The Elite - WAR ON WEDNESDAYS #1 (NXT vs. AEW)

Well, here we are. After months of buildup, a pair of TV deals, and a lot of salty banter, the war is now ON - it's a battle between the not-so-indie feds, Paul "Uncle Trips" Levesque repping NXT on one side, and the trio of Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks spearheading the charge for All Elite Wrestling on the other side. But this bodes a challenge for people like me who are trying to write about these shows in a timely manner:

I have no way to write about two shows happening at the exact same time.

So, instead of going even more insane than I already am with this endeavor, I've decided to take NXT and AEW into a different direction - less analysis and recapping, more "WHOA THAT WAS COOL" kind of stuff. I'll be going through these shows in shorter fashion to see which show will top the other, to see which match will be the best, and to see which program takes home the top honors for the week. But first, the cards!

NXT on USA, Full Sail Live - Winter Park, FL:
Johnny Gargano vs. Shane Thorne
Street Prophets vs. Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish (c) NXT Tag Team Championship
Candace LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler (c), NXT Women's Championship
Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole (c), NXT Championship
Velveteen Dream live @ Full Sail

AEW Dynamite, Capital One Arena - Washington, DC:
Cody (Rhodes) vs. Sammy Guevara
Brandon Cutler vs. MJF
Hangman Page vs. PAC
Nyla Rose vs. Riho, AEW Women's Championship
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho & f.k.a. LAX (Santana & Ortiz)
Jon Moxley live in the building


A few added notes: AEW has gotten a LOT of cross promotion through TNT and TBS, while NXT has been given the bonus of limited ad breaks, the first 30 minutes going ad-free, and an end time of 10:15. But which show came out on top in the ratings war, who won the first shot?

NXT on USA - 0.32 (18-49), 891K viewers
AEW Dynamite - 0.68 (18-49), 1.409M viewers

Over double the 18-49 for AEW, and a boost of just over 500k viewers as well. No wonder WWE sent out that "congratulatory" statement, it was all just to save face.

But how did each show fare, match-wise?

NXT on USA
Full Sail Live - Winter Park, FL
Live on USA Network - October 2, 2019

Matt Riddle vs. Adam Cole (c), NXT Championship - This match was WICKED. Insane action from bell to bell, loads of high spots and hard hits, Riddle looked incredibly strong in this match, but of course it would lead to Cole prevailing in the end. Go out of your way to watch this match, though, it is one of the best you'll see all year.

Then who would show up after the match but... FINN BALOR. Yep, he's back in NXT, and while a lot of people would call this a "demotion," you look at the batting average of callups and what they've been doing since then (remember The Ascension?), then come back to me on that.

Velveteen Dream came out to do a promo, on his couch with many of his... uh... supporters, I'll just say, and he's looking to get the North American title back from Roderick Strong. Put a pin in this, we'll hopefully come back to this in a few weeks.

Mia Yim vs. Io Shirai - Not too shabby a match, but it can only be considered a "cool-down" match after what came before it. Shirai looks incredibly strong in her heel role, while Yim is excellent at being valiant and tough, looking to win at any cost. They had some time, as well, it was another very fine match with Shirai coming out on top in the end.

We get a promo spot for Tegan Knox, showing her road to recovery after her injury in the Mae Young Classic. Maybe she'll be the one to take the title off of Baszler, who knows.

Johnny Gargano vs. Shane Thorne - No matter who you put him in the ring with, Johnny Wrestling is just too good of a wrestler to have anything short of an okay match. Kinda wish he had some mic time to get his character over to the TV audience, but hey, if you aren't sold on him after a sturdy and solid match with Shane Thorne, then that's on you. Gargano wins in the end with a superkick, and it's the shortest match on the card so far, at under 10 minutes.

Candace LeRae vs. Shayna Baszler (c), NXT Women's Championship - How do you get a lot of heat? Put on a strong 15-minute back and forth but have Shayna come out on top in the end. Not knocking Candace in the slightest, but the time to take the title off of Shayna isn't quite here yet, which is why I'm not as peeved as most over this. A very good match with some solid moments that make you believe NOW is the time... only for Shayna to win via submission. All I'll say is, be on the lookout for Tegan Knox. If anyone will take the title off of her, she'll be the one.

Danny Burch vs. Pete Dunne - Mean guy offense throughout, Dunne gets the win in pretty quick fashion, but the big story came at the end, with Damian Priest (the former Punishment Martinez) laying a beatdown on Dunne to set up a new feud going forward. Here's my wallet, I want more of this please.

Street Prophets vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly (c), NXT Tag Team Championship - Forget those stupid backstage bits they do on Raw, THIS is what people need to see to get Ford and Dawkins over as big stars. The crowd was hot for them, they had Wale do their entrance with them as their hype man, it's a perfect setting for a team that deserves more than stupid backstage bits on Raw. This was the longest match of the night, given plenty of time and an overrun as well, and while the action was hot in its final sequence, you know how it ends - Roddy comes out to play interference, and this gives Fish and O'Reilly enough to capitalize and escape with the pin. Still a great match, though.

And to close out the show, we see Adam Cole applauding his fellow Undisputed cohorts on the stage, when out comes... TOMASSO CIAMPA. And he wants Goldie back. So now we have Balor set to take on Cole, as well as Ciampa. This should bode quite interesting.

Verdict: NXT Takeover: Full Sail was as strong a show as it could possibly be. It just wasn't strong enough to prevent a more curious crowd from watching the other show.

AEW Dynamite
Capital One Arena - Washington, DC
Live on TNT - October 2, 2019

Pyro and ballyhoo and a packed crowd to kick things off. I like it, it's very big-league.

Sammy Guevara vs. Cody (Rhodes) - A hot crowd sure does make everything seem that much grander, doesn't it? Took some time for things to amp up, but the pacing of everything felt very smooth and consistent. Like Vinny said on B&V, "it was a 10 minute match that was given 10 minutes to breathe." Cody won after the angle happened with Sammy shoving Brandy Rhodes in his way during a topé, receipts were had, and the crowd popped big for the pin. Post-match, though, there was no interview with Tony Schiavone and Cody, as out came Chris Jericho for a beatdown on Cody, to get that supreme and GOOD heel heat.

Brandon Cutler vs. MJF - Maxwell Jacob Friedman is the best heel in the business and you can't tell me otherwise. Quick win for him, a quick day at the office, I always await more from him.

Chris Van Vliet had an interview with Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, in the front row, when out comes Jack Evans and Angelico to lay into the duo with one thing on their mind: "Morris Day and The Time SUCKED!" Which is categorically wrong, I'm sorry.

Time to sell the tag title tournament with a pre-tape with SCU and an interview with them as well, when out come Pentagon and Fenix. "CERO MIEDO!", "S-C-U!", a brawl breaks out, and away we go.

"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Pac - The match we never got back in May, here on (kinda) free TV. Page is still growing on a lot of the audience, so this was more of a showcase for PAC to establish his "no-fucks-given" heel-ness. Pac is now 2-0, as well, coming off that win over Kenny Omega at All Out, while Page is 0-2, so we shall see what ramifications this will have over them in the coming weeks.

Riho vs. Nyla Rose, AEW Women's Championship - The crowd LOVED this match and ate everything up. Great elements at play, the size advantage of Nyla against the athletic agility of Riho. There was a kinda questionable thing here, though, with Nyla pulling out steel chairs, as that would've gotten her DQ'ed. But it was all to set up a spot that had Riho move from the chairs and have Nyla crash and burn on the pile. The finish had Riho hitting a great Northern Lights suplex and a running double-knee strike to get the pin, to a BIG pop from the crowd. Enjoy that title, Riho, that very, very, VERY small title.

The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. (f.k.a.) LAX & Chris Jericho - "WHY WASN'T THERE A DQ WHEN MOXLEY CAME OUT???" Because Kenny wasn't the legal man at the time. There, problem solved. This served as a hot angle to sell their match at Full Gear next month, while the heel team had the advantage throughout to dominate and get the win. The big story, though, came after the bell rang.

Cue the post-match beatdown, then cue Cody coming out for the save, then Guevara for the advantage, then Dustin Rhodes for the save, and then... (the former) JACK SWAGGER. Yes, Bellator "star" Jake Hager is now All Elite. I will abstain from any further comment because it's not really my place. The angle was hot, and it was a great way to close out the first pro wrestling broadcast on TNT in over 18 years.

Verdict: AEW really needed a strong show out of the gate. They more than delivered, and they built a new audience for the network and timeslot. Thumbs way up.